DOMINION INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19799, 21 November 1927, Page 11

DOMINION INDUSTRY.

MANUFACTURERS CONFER. ALL CENTRES REPRESENTED. AUCKLAND BODY'S REMITS. • The annual conference of the New Zealand Manufacturers' Federation will be opened in the Town Hall. Tho four main centres, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, will be represented, and Mr. J Sutherland Ross, of Dunedin, will preside. The Auckland Manufacturers' Association will be represented by Messrs. J. A. C. Allum, L. .Toll, C. A. Whitney and J. Findlay. The Mayor of Auckland, Mr. G. Baildon, will welcome the visiting delegates at eleven o'clock and business will commence immediately after. The conference, which will occupy two, if not three, days, will suspend its deliberations to-morrow to enable the delegates to attend the luncheon to be given in honour of Mr. L. S. Amery, Secretary of State for the Dominions. Preparatory discussion among the members of the Auckland Association resulted in the preparation of four remits to be submitted. The most important of these deals with the effect of the customs tariff on the primary and secondary industries of the Dominion. It is recommended that the Government should set up a tariff board whose function should be to inquire into the working of the customs tariff and report its findings to the Government. Great importance is attached to this suggestion by the association, which recently submitted tho scheme to the Prime Minister. Another remit recommends preference for New Zealand goods and labour in Government contracts. The remit reads, "That in all Government specifications for contracts and purchase of goods provision bo made for New Zealand-made goods, and that where British is specified, the words 'New Zealand for preference' bo added." Both the remaining remits suggest alterations to the customs tariff. The present percentage of British materials or labour necessary to qualify an article for British preferential tariff is not considered high enough by tho association, which suggests that it be raised from 50 per cent, to 75 per cent. The association also recommends that raw materials (whether British or foreign) required for the use of New Zealand manufacturers be admitted free of duty provided they are not produced in New Zealand.